Humanities, History & Social Sciences

The Department of Humanities, History and Social Sciences is an essential part of Columbia’s LAS Core Curriculum, offering you hundreds of challenging and inspiring classes each semester.

You'll fulfill many of your Core requirements by taking classes in our department, but you can also further explore your interests in the humanities by selecting one of four minors (Black World Studies, Cultural Studies, Latino and Latin American Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies), by conducting research with a favorite professor through the Undergraduate Mentorship Research Initiative, or by taking one of our many language courses.

We are also proud to offer a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Studies, an undergraduate program ranked by Educational-Portal.com as one of the top 10 cultural studies programs in the country.

Events Calendar

Men Who Love Bukowski: Homosociality and Online Dating
This talk will examine the expression of homosociality, defined as non-romantic same-sex relationality, in the online dating profiles of heterosexual males. It will consider ways male homosociality reinforces patriarchy, and it will look at online dating platforms as sites where this reinforcement is enacted. It will consider how...Get the details

No Selves to Defend: Criminalizing Women of Color For Self-Defense
Mariame Kaba will be discussing "No Selves to Defend," an exhibition that she organized and co-curated, that features the stories of women of color who have been criminalized for self-defense. The exhibition also addresses the campaigns and mobilizations that emerged to resist their criminalization and demand...Get the details

Identity Becoming Matter: Human Terrain Systems, Neuro-militarism, and the Politics of Fluid Demography
This talk examines new techniques of population management as central to current US War doctrine on counter-insurgency, in particular, in the example of the US Army's Human Terrain Systems program. Gone are the days where white identity is presumed to be...Get the details

The Image of the City and the City as an Image: Photography, Cinematography and the Lived Social Experience of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, 1960-1980
Greg Foster-Rice is an art historian specializing in the history, theory, and criticism of photography. As a teacher he is engaged in a wide range of photographic media and their...Get the details

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